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Gourd Banjo Owners and Builders

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This group is for anyone who owns or builds Gourd Banjos

142 Members, Created 3/6/2011 -

Administrators: Austin Stovall (owner)

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From PRDevlin on 10/21/2013 8:08:24 PM

Hi,

It seems I have a bit of gourd fever, not flu though, that seeing them lately just makes me want to build instruments - and I'd never done that prior to this September. The first one was a great deal of fun, though really little more than a proof of concept. The second is in the works now but I had to take an african detour and I made this gourd mbira. I figure this group is probably a good place to at least find the sympathy of those moved by gourds to make musical things.

thanks,

Paul

6 Comments
	C Nyal de Kaye says: 10/21/2013 8:28:30 PM Gourd fever is a serious business Paul and one seldom recovers from it. Welcome to this little section of the BH and hopefully someone on here can answer any questions you raise.
	PRDevlin says: 10/21/2013 8:36:45 PM thanks, my ears are perked
	PRDevlin says: 10/22/2013 5:09:50 AM thanks, my ears are perked
	C Nyal de Kaye says: 10/22/2013 1:11:46 PM It may be worth checking through the various posts here. There is one by John Herrington that may be helpful. banjohangout.org/my/John%20Herrington
	PRDevlin says: 10/23/2013 10:30:22 AM Thanks for that. A nice entry with much practical perspective. I'll start with one area of ignorance I have (I have so many) and this is on the skin. I have a big gourd (~12 diameter) and am committed in this next one to using an animal skin of some sort for the head. I have a very light kangaroo skin/leather - really not much heavier (15% at most) than the goat skin I used on the first. Research tells me that early banjos used ground hog skins - actually you can get those on eBay. How would/can one tell, before the fact, by looking at/testing a given skin/hide/piece of leather whether it would make a good head for a banjo? All of the work I do is for the most part 'journey of discovery' work. I am not trying to emulate any particular thing so much as come up with a plausible instrument that really led to a lot of good learning.
	C Nyal de Kaye says: 10/23/2013 1:19:52 PM I have not used kangaroo skin and living in Australia it seems rather natural to do so. I will one day but do not have any dehaired kangaroo skins available to me at the moment. I think that kangaroo would be good. It is reputed to be a very strong skin. The following is based on ONE observation only and therefore may not be reliable information. I have used cow and goat skins and found that the cow skin has been a more reliable skin than the goat. My definition of "reliable", for this comment is, that the cow skin does reacts much less to the humidity than does the goat skin. I would not take this as "Gospel" as it is just an observation on one goat skin and i would be interested to hear other people's comments on the matter. One thing to look for is that the skin is more-or-less the same thickness all over. Some skins have heavy patches (that is thicker patches) and these can be sanded down a bit. I don't know if that affects the sound, it probably does, but others may have alternative views. I think that that is about how it is really, people have differing views about everything. All you can do is have a go and see how it comes it. I am happy with the sound from both types of skins and will be using a goat skin on my next one as I have a goat skin. If I get a 'roo skin then I will use that.
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